The Washington Report on Middle East Affairs back issues from September 2002:
Letters to the editor
Sep 01, 2002; ... Palestinians Deserve Better As a very old Jew I am deeply concerned about the fascist behavior of the Israeli government. I lived in Palestine when it was still British ruled and the first few years after 1948 before I left. Recently we all saw the independence of East Timor ...
Israel uses terror to derail peace efforts and establish permanent occupation
Sep 01, 2002; ... Rachelle Marshall is a free-lance editor living in Stanford, CA. A member of the International Jewish Peace Union, she writes frequently on the Middle East. The State of Israel has arisen, but our country is not yet liberated. The battle continues: it is Hebrew arms which decide the ...
Israel's indifference to civilian lives
Sep 01, 2002; ... Israel's July 22 killing of Hamas leader Salah Shehadeh in Gaza has taken to new heights this war in which civilians are constantly forced to pay the price. In using American F-16 combat planes to drop a one-ton bomb on a crowded apartment building, Israel left 15 people dead, more than 140 ...
A state for all its citizens--one Palestinian's dream of peace
Sep 01, 2002; ... Samah Jabr is a medical intern in her native city of Jerusalem. For the past two years I have longed to be able to spend a Sunday in New York's Central Park. I remember it as a place where people of every color, race and creed enjoy the blossom of pink spring flowers. The park's ...
U.S. opinion polls show growing support for Palestinians
Sep 01, 2002; ... Richard H. Curtiss is executive editor and Delinda C. Hanley news editor of the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs. There is good news for Palestinians from recent opinion polls. Most polls from the United States, Europe, and even Israel, show growing support for a Palestinian ...
Two views: Why the push to attack Iraq?
Sep 01, 2002; ... Israel's Last Tango in Washington: Will the U.S. Attack Iraq? Bv Andrew I. Killgore Andrew I. Killgore is publisher of the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs. "Looming above all other causes of alienation from America ... was ...the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and ...
Richard Perle's stealth attack on Saudi Arabia
Sep 01, 2002; ... Richard Curtiss is the executive editor of the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs. Former Pentagon official Richard Perle, a long-time supporter of Israel, reached new heights in his mission to distract the American public from dealing with the Israeli-Palestinian problem. Perle is ...
The secretary is not leaving!
Sep 01, 2002; ... Eugene Bird, a retired foreign service officer, is president of the Council for the National Interest and diplomatic correspondent for the Washington Report. With a straight face, Secretary of State Colin Powell told National Security and Defense officials with whom he was meeting in ...
While media spotlights one anthrax suspect, another is too hot to touch
Sep 01, 2002; ... Delinda Curtiss Hanley is the news editor of the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs America's mainstream press finds some stories too hot to handle. One of the most egregious examples of this is its coverage of the hunt for the perpetrator of the post-9/11 anthrax letters--a matter ...
Solidarity international, attorney Stanley L. Cohen announce landmark lawsuit
Sep 01, 2002; ... Special Report At a July 17 press conference at the National Press Club in Washington, DC, Solidarity International and attorney Stanley L. Cohen announced the filing of a groundbreaking lawsuit against the State of Israel, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and other Israeli officials, and ...
Sami Al-Arian and Mazen Al-Najjar: A tale of two Palestinian brothers-in-law
Sep 01, 2002; ... Richard Curtiss is the executive editor of the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs. The story of Sami Al-Arian and his best friend and brother-in-law, Mazen Al-Najjar, is a saga of tragedy and cruel fate. There is no moral. There is no villain. There is no hero. What is needed, ...
U.N. human rights commissioner Mary Robinson latest casualty of Mideast conflict
Sep 01, 2002; ... Ian Williams is a free-lance journalist based at the United Nations. There have been many casualties of the Middle East conflict--and not just Arabs and Israelis. They include Swedish aristocrats like Count Folke Bernadotte, congressmen from Alabama like Earl Hilliard, and now a former ...
Supporters for Jonathan J. Pollard, spy-for-Israel, continue to work for his release
Sep 01, 2002; ... Richard Curtiss is the executive editor of the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs. Jonathan Jay Pollard now has been in prison for nearly 15 years, serving a life sentence for spying for Israel. His guilt has never been questioned. A majority of Americans feel as strongly about ...
Ten Senators, 27 Representatives make 107th Congress "Hall of Fame"
Sep 01, 2002; ... Considering the increasingly virulent anti-- Palestinian, sometimes anti-- Arab, congressional actions and expressions over the past few months, it is tempting for this, The Washington Report's pre-election scorecard for the members of the 107th Congress, to concentrate on negative criteria ....
Arabian Peninsula
Sep 01, 2002; ... Study Wans of Stagnation in Arab Societies The new Arab Human Development Report 2002-commissioned by the United Nations and written by a group of Arab intellectuals-warns that a lack of political freedom, repression of women and intellectual isolation are major factors contributing to ...
Fertile Crescent
Sep 01, 2002; ... Environment, Economics Combine In Jordan According to the July 24 Jordan Times online, Jordan's Royal Society for the Conservation of Nature (RSCN), the country's oldest environmental protection organization, has broken new ground with a U.S.-funded $7 million endowment, used to create ...
Iran/Iraq
Sep 01, 2002; ... Iranian Youth Harassed by "Depravity" Crackdown Iranian police have launched a new crackdown on "depravity," reports the June 30 Saudi Gazette, especially in the nation's capital of Tehran. Identity and marriage certificate checks are becoming regular occurrences, as police officials ...
Israel/Palestine
Sep 01, 2002; ... Israeli Hackers Lead the World The July 10 Ha'aretz reported that "during the first half of 2002, Israel ranked first in the world in the number of hackers relative to its number of Web users," ahead of Hong Kong and France. According to a study conducted by the US. security firm ...
North Africa
Sep 01, 2002; ... Oldest Intact Sarcophagus Found Near Pyramids The June 18 Arab News reported that archeologists have found the world's oldest intact sarcophagus near the pyramids of Giza. The sarcophagus, 6.5 feet long and 3 feet wide, may contain the 4,500-year-old mummy of Neni Sout Wizart, who ...
The Subcontinent
Sep 01, 2002; ... Bangledash Closes Oldest State-- Owned Enterprise The June 26 Arab News reported that the Bangladesh government has decided to close the nation's oldest state-owned enterprise, the Adamjee Jute Mill, located 12 miles east of Dhaka. The mill, set up in 1951, is estimated to have lost ...
Central Asia
Sep 01, 2002; ... Female Aid Workers Leave Northern Afghanistan According to the June 26 Arab News, New York based Human Rights Watch catalogued over 150 cases of murder, looting and gangrape of ethnic Pashtuns in Afghanistan's northern regions, where they are a minority Most members of the deposed ...
Federal Court of Canada to decide landmark case on Jewish charity
Sep 01, 2002; ... CanadaCalling Members of the Canadian Jewish community are anxiously awaiting a decision by the Federal Court of Canada regarding a tax appeal launched by a Jewish charity. The decision could mean that the Canadian Magen David Adom for Israel (CMDA) loses its charitable status for ...
From a distance, U.N. issues report on Israeli invasion of Jenin, West Bank
Sep 01, 2002; ... The newspapers all reported "U.N. Report Shows No Massacre" when it came out, and the Israeli Foreign Ministry crowed vindication. Perhaps they should have actually read the report, which says that the Israeli incursion into Jenin killed 52 Palestinians, at least half of whom were unarmed ...
Arab Human Development Report takes an honest look at region
Sep 01, 2002; ... AT THE BEGINNING of July, the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) issued the first Arab Human Development Report examining the social progress of the Arab world. Overall, it does not look good. Because this was a regional report, its authors were able to be much more candid than if dealing ...
Denied entry: Israel blocks American Muslims from visit to holy sites
Sep 01, 2002; ... Margaret Zaknoen is director of programs of American Muslims for Jerusalem <http://www.amjerusalem.org>. She accompanied the delegation on its trip. The ad reads: "Show your solidarity in support of Israel on a mission that includes briefings by political leaders, solidarity ...
Morocco has "chosen the path of confrontation," say Spain's El Mundo
Sep 01, 2002; ... European PressReview The arrival of a dozen Moroccan soldiers July 12 on a tiny island inhabited only by goats set off an international incident, with Spain claiming that Rabat had made a serious challenge to its sovereignty. The "invasion" of Isla de Perejil (Parsley Island), ...
Spanish eviction of Moroccan troops called "Act of Folly"
Sep 01, 2002; ... European PressReview On July 17 Spain retook Parsley Island, sending elite troops, transported in attack helicopters and supported by five warships and two submarines, to disarm the half-dozen Moroccan gendarmes who had "occupied" the rock for six days. The move was praised by ...
Attack on Gaza a "premeditated butchery of innocents"
Sep 01, 2002; ... The UK's Guardian said on July 25 that Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's "personal, primary culpability is plain" in an attack on Gaza which left 14 civilians dead and 160 wounded. Sharon declared the attack, which targeted and killed Salah Shehada, head of Hamas's military wing, a "great ...
Bush said to be "preparing military strikes" on Iraq
Sep 01, 2002; ... The U.S. and Europe desperately need to talk about stabilizing Afghanistan and the Middle East, said the Berliner Zeitung on July 23. "The Bush administration seems maniacally fixated on preparing military strikes against Iraq," the paper opined, "which the Europeans reject because of their ...
Deepening Turkish crisis worries European papers
Sep 01, 2002; ... Germany's Berliner Zeitung of July 12 warned against ignoring the political crisis in Turkey, pointing out that "the big neighbor with almost 70 million people is politically and strategically far too important for Europe." Turkey's paralysis deepened on July 11 with the departure of ...
Stability of Afghan government "in question"
Sep 01, 2002; ... The July 6 murder of Afghan Vice President Haji Abdul Qadir led the European press to panic and despair. Britain's Financial Times of July 8 said the incident "has thrown the stability of President Hamid Karzai's government into question and shattered ... [any] optimism that had built up." ...
Do recent assassinations presage return to chaos in Afghanistan?
Sep 01, 2002; ... Andrew North is a reporter for the BBC who recently was in Afghanistan. Anywhere in the world, it is taken as a given that the leader of a country--however lacking in funds--is protected by his or her fellow nationals, for reasons of pride as much as for security. What other option could ...
Constitutional changes and prospects for Shariah banking in Pakistan
Sep 01, 2002; ... Prof. M.M. Ali, a specialist on South Asia based in the Washington, DC area, is a consultant with the United Nations Development Program. Pakistan's Supreme Court has required the government of Pervez Musharraf to hold elections by October 2002, and Musharraf has pledged to respect the ...
Wounded forign workers in Israel feared to seek treatment after bombing
Sep 01, 2002; ... Islam and the Middle East in the Far East On the night of July 17, two Islamic Jihad members exploded the bombs they were carrying near an all-night kiosk in Tel Aviv, killing five people and injuring 40 to 50 more. "Palestinian terrorists seem to have an insatiable appetite ...
Debilitating corruption
Sep 01, 2002; ... Residents of the Indonesian capital, Jakarta, were angry when they heard that their government planned to devote five times as much money to feeding four gorillas newly brought to Ragunan Zoo as it allocated to provide for the city's numerous poor last year. But the pampered primates responsible ...
Malaysia welcomes Arab tourists
Sep 01, 2002; ... Flying back to Singapore from the north Malaysian island of Langkawi last year with my family, we found ourselves seated next to a young couple from Saudi Arabia. They were newlyweds and, for both of them, this was their first trip abroad. We asked them why they had chosen to come to Malaysia ....
Egypt's deep-sixed 1954 Constitution a reminder of what might have been
Sep 01, 2002; ... CairoCommunique Egyptian historian Salah Issa recently found the document that was to turn Egypt into a liberal constitutional democracy lying in pile of dust in a dank forgotten room of the Arab League buildings in Cairo. "I had read many mentions of the 1954 constitution in books, but ...
Call for early elections sets off political crisis for Turkey's coalition government
Sep 01, 2002; ... Talking Turkey Summer is traditionally a time for rest and recuperation, and for Turkey's parliament, this year was no exception. In early June, the hard-working deputies usually vote themselves a three-- month paid holiday before shutting up shop and heading off to sweat out the season ...
Saudi Prince Walid Ibn Talal--Lebanon's next Prime Minister?
Sep 01, 2002; ... Letter From the Levant Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri is in the hot spot once again, facing a barrage of criticism for the country's prolonged economic stalemate. This time, however, his accusers are not members of the Lebanese opposition, but Saudi Prince Walid Ibn Talal. The ...
Los Angeles motorists startled by "Israeli checkpoint"
Sep 01, 2002; ... Southern California Chronicle As motorists stopped for a red light on busy Wilshire Boulevard, several helmeted youths in khaki uniforms and Star of David armbands sprinted into the intersection, kneeled and took aim at windshields with their cardboard M-16 rifles. Other "soldiers" ...
PA launces U.S. Palestinian Congress
Sep 01, 2002; ... Dr. Anise Barghouti, Palestinian Authority deputy minister of planning and international cooperation, met with Southern California Palestinian Americans on July 19 to organize elections of local delegates to a national Palestinian American Congress which will convene before Sept. 25 in ...
Pasadena coalition parties for peace
Sep 01, 2002; ... Nearly every weekend this summer, the Pasadena Coalition for a Just Peace has staged rallies, demonstrations and visits to the office of Rep. Adam Schiff. On June 23, more than 50 of the energetic activists gathered in the home of Linda Tubach and Bob McCloskey to raise funds for the Israeli ...
Najeeb Khoury challenges Dershowitz
Sep 01, 2002; ... In March, Harvard Law Professor Alan Dershowitz created a storm of controversy when he recommended in an article in the Jerusalem Post that each time there is a terrorist attack, Israel should retaliate by destroying a Palestinian village. Francis Boyle, who served on the board of ...
Open tent offers breath of culture
Sep 01, 2002; ... On a sultry July evening, Open Tent LA offered a new cultural experience to Angelenos of Middle Eastern origins when it hosted a reading of Egyptian master playwright Tewfiq al-Hakim's "The Tree Dweller." The event was all the more memorable for being in the newly opened Pacific Arts Center of ...
Muslim World League makes Goodwill visit to New York as part of U.S. tour
Sep 01, 2002; ... New York City and Tri-StateNews The Muslim World League, headquartered in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, is an organization committed to promoting peace and understanding between Islam and other faiths, cultures, and civilizations. This summer the League sent a delegation of distinguished ...
In event of another 9/11, says Bush appointee, "Forget civil rights in this country"
Sep 01, 2002; ... The Mideast in the Midwest After a series of court battles over a contested seat on the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights (USCCR), Cleveland attorney Peter Kirsanow gained his place on the Commission-just where President George W. Bush wanted him. Ironic, then, to think that he would use ...
First Amendment victory in Chicago
Sep 01, 2002; ... Ironies never cease when it comes to telling the story of the Palestinians. For example, a Palestinian film festival in Chicago lost the support of its university host when it was determined that the theme could be "controversial." When the university conditioned the festival on a simultaneous ...
Al-Jazeera: Mouthpiece for terrorists, lackey for Israel, or voice for Democracy?
Sep 01, 2002; ... Sr. Elaine Kelley is the administrative officer for Friends of Sabeel-North America. The World Affairs Council of Oregon's Monthly Headline Forum on July 25 featured a talk by Hafez Al-Mirazi, Washington bureau chief for the Qatar-based Al-Jazeera satellite TV news network. An ...
Demonstrators rally for Palestine, protest Cheney visit
Sep 01, 2002; ... Anti-war activism has blossomed around the country since Sept. 11, and Portland, Oregon--City of Roses, recycling capital of the West, wilderness refuge of the Woodstock generation, and birthplace of radical poet/journalist/Bolshevik hero John Reed--is no exception. Portlanders have their own ...
San Francisco librarian, Montana-based nonprofit devoted to educating Afghan girls
Sep 01, 2002; ... Elaine Pasquini is a free-lance photojournalist based in Ignacio, CA. Nearly one year after the U.S.-led bombing of Afghanistan began in October 2001, non-governmental agencies continue to provide assistance to Afghans, although the American media's reporting on their activities has been ...
"Mosaic" brings Arabic news to English-speaking audiences
Sep 01, 2002; ... San Francisco businessman Jamal Dajani is filling a muchneeded void in the dissemination of news from the Middle East to the American public. As director of Arabic programming and producer of WorldLink TV's informative new television program, "Mosaic," he told the Washington Report that he wants ...
Other people's mail
Sep 01, 2002; ... Some letters by or to other people are as informative for our readers as anything we might write ourselves. U.S. Offers No Evidence To The Boston Globe, July 30, 2002 (as published). Scott Ritter, in "Is Iraq a true threat to the U.S.?" (op ed, July 20), says that the ...
The Christian right and support for Israel
Sep 01, 2002; ... Christianity and the Middle East How does one explain the differences in Middle East policies between President George W. Bush and that of his father just a decade ago? For some the answer is quite simple. It is the influence of the Christian right on the younger Bush. During ...
Other evangelical leaders urge Bush to follow "even-handed U.S. policy"
Sep 01, 2002; ... Other Evangelical Leaders* Urge Bush to Follow "Even-Handed U.S. Policy" July 2, 2002 Dear Mr. President, We write as American evangelical Christians concerned for the well-being of all the children of Abraham in the Middle East-Christian, Jewish and Muslim. We urge ...
American Muslims and 9/11: A community looks back...and to the future
Sep 01, 2002; ... Riad Z. Abdelkarim, M.D. is Western Region communications director for the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR). As our nation approaches the one-year anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, American Muslims around the country will join their fellow citizens in pausing and ...
"Second Holocaust" rhetoric trivializes Nazism's victims in effort to silence debate
Sep 01, 2002; ... Israel and Judaism Where others see a sharp exchange of views about geopolitical questions in the continuing debate over developments in the Middle East, many Jewish spokesmen see a storm of anti-Semitism and even genocide on the horizon. Abraham Foxman, national director of ...
FBI director Mueller addresses AMC conventiongoers
Sep 01, 2002; ... Avid readers of The Washington Times may have come across a June 29 article by Jerry Seper entitled "FBI chief asks Muslim council's anti-terror help." According to Seper, as FBI director Robert S. Mueller III addressed the American Muslim Council's (AMC) 11th National Convention, "protesters ...
PANA seeks to galvanize Pakistani-American community
Sep 01, 2002; ... Muslim-American Activism To protect and promote vital Pakistani-- American interests in the United States, five major Pakistani-American organizations have joined together to form the national Pakistan American National Alliance (PANA). The new organization will create a unified action ...
PANA's letter to Colin Powell: Help solve Kashimir issue
Sep 01, 2002; ... The Pakistan American National Alliance (PANA) on July 22, 2002, sent a letter to U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell, prior to his July 27 and 28 visit to Pakistan and India. In the letter PANA pointed out that a durable peace in South Asia will not be possible unless the core dispute, ...
Bahrain hosts dialogue on Islamic contributions to civilization
Sep 01, 2002; ... The Kingdom of Bahrain hosted a conference on May 30 in Manama to address current and historical aspects of Muslim civilization in the context of Western civilization. The Ministry of Information event was put together by "Discover Islam," a non-profit, privately run information organization ....
Panelists discuss Bush speech
Sep 01, 2002; ... Four distinguished panelists--two Americans and two Palestinians--discussed President George Bush's long-awaited speech on the Palestine-Israel conflict at a June 27 luncheon at the Center for Policy Analysis on Palestine. The first panelist, Ambassador Nicholas Veliotes, a former ...
LAHC Arab American Scholarship Awards Banquet
Sep 01, 2002; ... The Lebanese-American Heritage Club (LAHC), known for providing social, cultural and athletic outlets for Detroit-area Arab Americans, presented more than 50 awards at its 14th Annual Scholarship Dinner on Friday, May 17. Customarily granting scholarships to students of Lebanese descent, this ...
Civil rights defended
Sep 01, 2002; ... About 1,000 ANSWER (Act Now to Stop War and End Racism) activists from the middle Atlantic region gathered in Washington, DC between the Justice Department and FBI headquarters on Pennsylvania Avenue to protest the assault that American civil liberties--particularly those of Muslims and ...
A jagger in Jenin
Sep 01, 2002; ... Longtime human rights advocate Bianca Jagger addressed the Center for Policy Analysis on Palestine July 16, 2002, regarding her experiences in Palestine and Israel as part of the United Nations Population Fund. The native of Nicaragua first became interested in politics and human rights while ...
Hannibal Club recognizes Benjamin Gilman
Sep 01, 2002; ... Tunisian Ambassador to the U.S. Hatem Atallah and Mrs. Atallah, and Ambassador and Mrs. Robert Pelletreau, Jr. together hosted the Hannibal Club's fourth annual award dinner June 25 at Washington's Mayflower Hotel. The banquet is a favorite event for Americans who have spent time in Tunisia, ...